Echelon International
Echelon International is an multinational private military company founded in 2007 by Daniel Mróz. Echelon International provides security services to various government and non-government organizations on a contractual basis. In 2013, Echelon International received a $92 million contract for United States Department of State security guards. History The firm was established in 2007, founded by former Polish Military Information Service analyst Daniel Mróz. He sought to create a business to address the threat of international terrorism, and decided to apply their knowledge of military activities to “train government agencies in anti-terrorism techniques.” The firm received its first contracts in 2008, following the invasion of Iraq, to help guard and equip allied forces in the war zone, especially for the Coalition Provisional Authority. In the years following, Echelon International has won additional State Department contracts, among others, to provide security services at some of the highest risk United States embassies around the world. This work is performed under the Worldwide Personal Protective Services contract issued by the State Department, valued at up to $1 billion for the handful of companies assigned a share of the work. Echelon International has also assisted in humanitarian operations, including rushing aid and supplies to Haiti in 2010 following a catastrophic earthquake. In 2010, around 60 private security firms that were set up in war zones guaranteed to cut back their use of force, vetting and training of personnel as well as reporting and infringements of the law. Echelon International was included in this agreement as well as leading American company Triple Canopy. In 2015 six mercenaries reported by local media to be employed by Echelon International were killed in Colombia. The mercenaries were being led by an Australian commander believed to have been hired by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia''' '''to fight the Colombian government. In 2016, Ali al-Houthi, former President of the Revolutionary Committee, a body formed by Houthi militants, reported that a Tochka missile hit on a Saudi command center in Ma'rib resulting in the death of over 120 mercenaries, including 27 Echelon International contractors. Ethics The company has signed a code of ethics for security contractors. In June 2010 testimony before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Director Dan Frost expressed the firm's support for a “system of private security contractor certification by third parties.” According to Echelon International, the firm "participated in the effort to establish an international code of conduct since the development of the Montreaux Document in 2006, and even provided the company's Code of Conduct to the Swiss government as a source document." The result of these efforts was the development and adoption of International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers, and Frost spoke at the signing ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland in November 2010. Echelon International representatives stated that, "Our next steps are to ensure that the Code gains worldwide acceptance and becomes an integral part of how the industry operates and how governments and clients select security providers. We must also work to ensure that transparency, oversight and accountability accompany the Code so that the full extent of its intent is shown." Organization Equipment Category:Factions Category:Independent